Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Ian Gurvitz
Read between
July 17 - July 31, 2017
to call half his supporters “deplorables.”
Just consider what he wants you to believe then ask yourself why he wants you to believe it. What are his motives? His words have meaning only insofar as they have purpose. And power. It’s not language. It’s Trump-speak.
It’s in our nature to look for saviors, but what was going on in the American mind
why were so many people willing to give him a pass? How was it that language and behavior that would have instantly disqualified someone from teaching kindergarten suddenly became acceptable in a presidential candidate? WE FORGAVE HIS SINS
He may have kicked off his campaign by taking a shot at Mexicans, then segued over to Muslims before spraying fire at the press corps, but his basic platform was racism. After eight years of President Obama, Trump
Trump’s railing against political correctness was a shout-out to those who didn’t want to let go of their prejudices and accept a changing world, with new rules. He reached out to those who were not
Trump wasn’t promising to take people into the future. He was about going full speed ahead to the past. Make America Great Again? No. Make America White Again.
If someone insults you, you go on a Twitter rampage. Lyndon Johnson fought the war on poverty. Nixon fought the war on drugs. You fought the war on Rosie O’Donnell.
She was all steak. He was all sizzle. He sold it. The media help sell it. And 63 million people bought it. JEB SHOULD HAVE RUN THIRD PARTY
The 2016 election was like an episode of Survivor. Democrats got outwitted, outplayed, and outlasted. But unlike the TV show, we don’t get to leave the island. We’re stuck here.
If pressed, we often can’t say why we think what we think. And we get stubborn when pressed to back up our precious opinions though, in many cases opinions are what people have because they don’t know, don’t understand or decide to ignore some of the facts. The nature of our public debate doesn’t help. Most discussions of serious issues are framed by the left/right arguments, but they rarely get down to the level of first principles, in which people are forced to examine the philosophical assumptions underlying their opinions.
Trump threw out the rules. The Trump campaign wasn’t about knocking on doors. It was about knocking them down.
“When they go low we go high” was a positive affirmation of the fundamental goodness and decency of the America people. And it didn’t work. Turns out we’re not that good, and we’re not that decent.
Trump didn’t bring a gun to a knife fight. He brought a gun to a chess match. And the upcoming elections are going to get even dirtier than 2016. By
She’s one and a half. She can’t even wipe her ass and she doesn’t have to look for a job. This isn’t about her future. It’s about our present. Which is all Trump voters cared about: Fuck climate change. I need a job, now. And frankly, it’s hard to counter that. Climate change isn’t sending threatening letters to shut off the lights if you don’t pay the electric bill. Democrats need to get that. They also need to sell the idea that the renewable energy industry is the future. It’s not a job-killer. It’s a jobcreator.
pilot who’s never flown a plane or a surgeon who’s never been to med school. The fact that people buy this bullshit idea is living proof that some Americans are stupid enough to believe anything.
Optimism may not be the logical takeaway from modern life or human behavior but it may be our only salvation. We have to hold on to our ideals, not because they reflect our current reality, but because they become a selffulfilling existential choice.
